Lowering Police Officer Standards

[Caustic Burno]

Maybe hire folks part time? Most cops retire ASAP, maybe make it where they have to work longer before their eligible for retirement. I have a group of cops that hunt with me every year, and not a single one of the guys worked till he was 50 before he retired.

I have mixed feelings about the early retirement deal. Some cops go through their life with very little stress, others are in the front lines of stress depending no where they work. The latter should be able to retire earlier then the former.

Problem here is very low pay job is not worth it.
We have like 40 deputies making 30k
I actually believe we would be better off with 15 making 70k.
You then would have a job to attract better candidates and easier to retain them.

When the GW and State boys are making 75k the good ones are not looking at our piddling county

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Around here,the younger ones,and some of the older, don't want to go through the drug test""know they'll fail """so they don't apply..

 

[slick4591]

This topic has been kicked around a little. This was announced yesterday and this will be the second time Dallas has lowered their standards in order to recruit new officers. Thoughts? (BTW this new chief is from Detroit if that matters to you.)

Dallas police chief says millennials partly to blame for officer shortage

Seems most of what I hear coming out of Big "D" is low wages compared to the surrounding communities much much smaller. Even Ft. Worth pays considerably more than Dallas.

Their starting pay is lower, but still more than a lot of small departments. Ft Worth is doing things to draw DPD guys over there. Treating those officers as a lateral transfer with better starting pay is one of them. Ft Worth also has a more stable retirement program. Dallas' retirement has been raked over the coals and is in near shambles. Many have left to go to suburb cities that are paying them more with a lot more stable environment. But, don't kid yourself that it's all Dallas' problem. Just about all the surrounding cities are jumping thru their own butts on trying to keep their numbers up. Between growing pains, retiring people and some moving on to other professions it's getting tough out there.

In a conversation last week with a recently retired Plano officer he was quoting some pretty low numbers about applicants that actually passed the initial exam to being hired.

 

[slick4591]

Problem here is very low pay job is not worth it.
We have like 40 deputies making 30k
I actually believe we would be better off with 15 making 70k.
You then would have a job to attract better candidates and easier to retain them.

When the GW and State boys are making 75k the good ones are not looking at our piddling county

When I started out as a dispatcher/jailer back in '74 I was making $400 a month. Dam near starved to death every month, but I loved the job. Nope, money was not a major factor to me back then as I expect money is not a major factor to your deputies that hang in there.

 

[Logar]

Was in Londonistan last month - the standards have been lowered big time and now half of them are desert immigrants.

Best to stay a long ways away from them at all times.

Be happy you have what you have and make it attractive enough to bring in the good folks - otherwise you will be in serious trouble down the road.